Fossils of Salwasiren qatarensis (IMAGE)
Caption
Fossils of Salwasiren qatarensis, a newly described 21-million-year-old ancient sea cow species found in Al Maszhabiya [AL mahz-HA-bee-yah], a fossil site in southwestern Qatar.
Few places preserve as many ancient sea cow fossils as the site in Al Maszhabiya. The bonebed was initially discovered when geologists conducted mining and petroleum surveys in the 1970s and noted abundant “reptile” bones scattered across the desert. In the early 2000s, paleontologists returned to the area and quickly realized that the fossils were not from ancient reptiles but sea cows.
Researchers have identified more than 170 different locations containing sea cow fossils throughout the Al Maszhabiya site, making the bonebed the richest assemblage of fossilized sea cow bones in the world.
In a paper published today in the journal PeerJ, researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History worked with collaborators at Qatar Museums to name and describe the new species of sea cow.
Credit
ARC.2023.23.008, Qatar Museums, Doha, State of Qatar. Photo by James Di Loreto, Smithsonian.
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